A variety of absorbent articles that include different colored regions are available in the market. Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins and female adult incontinence articles that function to collect fluid discharged from a woman's vagina or urethra sometimes include a colored region proximal the central portion of the absorbent article that differs in color from portions of the absorbent article remote from the central portion of the absorbent article.
By including a colored region in the central portion of the absorbent article, manufacturers of absorbent articles have effectively taught consumers that the central portion of the absorbent article is where the fluid collected should reside. Manufacturers have devised a variety of designs for central colored regions. In some absorbent articles, the central colored region is relatively narrow as compared to the overall width of the absorbent article and extends only along about one-half of the length of the absorbent article. One possible reason that relatively narrow central colored regions were adopted was that such colored regions could provide a desired visual impression, such as the impression of depth. Central colored regions also might help the consumer understand how her use and placement of the product in her panty might be affecting the staining pattern of absorbent article, which might help her improve how and where she mounts the chassis of the absorbent article in her panty to achieve maximum performance. Manufacturers that have adopted designs having narrow central colored regions have developed manufacturing capability and capacity to produce absorbent articles having such designs at high speed.
High speed manufacturing lines that include printing capability represent a high capital cost to manufacturers of absorbent articles. For manufacturers to effectively recover the cost of such capital, it is advantageous for manufacturers to use existing manufacturing lines to continue manufacturing absorbent articles. In some instances, the approach manufacturers have chosen to provide for central colored regions might not be easily adapted to provide for colored regions that are wider than those formerly produced, due to the crowded nature of the manufacturing line. Thus, if a manufacturer desires to provide for visual elements across a greater width of the absorbent article, the manufacturer might have to retool the manufacturing line to provide for more laterally extensive colored regions, thus incurring additional capital cost.
Another problem associated with narrow central colored regions on absorbent articles is that some consumers associate stain patterns that extend outside the central colored region as indicating that the absorbent capacity of the absorbent article is exhausted. In some absorbent articles, the central colored region could account for less than 25% of the absorbent capacity of the absorbent article.
Absorbent articles currently available in the market place are generally provided with colored regions on only a single component, such as the secondary topsheet or topsheet. Such an approach limits the design space in which designers can create innovative designs that meet consumer demands and might limit the ability of manufacturers to easily move to more complex and laterally extensive designs.
With these limitations in mind, there is a continuing unaddressed need for absorbent articles that can be manufactured cost effectively using existing manufacturing capability that can be provided with additional colored regions that are laterally more extensive than those formerly produced by such manufacturing lines. Further, there is a continuing unaddressed need for absorbent articles that reassure the user that fluid in the absorbent article in regions outside of a relatively narrow colored region is securely retained in the absorbent article and she need not worry about a leak. Further, there is a continuing unaddressed need for absorbent articles that are provided with colored regions on multiple layers so that designers have a richer palette of color impression with which to work.